


if you were by my side and we stumbled in the dark (I know we'd be alright)

by were1993



Series: Pilot Episodes: to write or not to write? [1]
Category: NU'EST, SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: 2007 movie w/ Will Smith, Angst, Character Death, M/M, OKAY SO: most of SVT are NOT main characters but yes they do die, Post-Apocalypse, inspired by i am legend, not my typical stuff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-28
Updated: 2017-07-28
Packaged: 2018-12-08 03:47:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,171
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11638290
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/were1993/pseuds/were1993
Summary: “I heard that you lost quite a few on your team,” Jonghyun says quietly.“I did,” Seungcheol whispers. He touches the twelve safety pins on his right instinctively, checking to see if they were still there. “I lost five.”(aka. After a botched mission, Seungcheol goes after Jeonghan who went after Jisoo who is probably infected. They might be dead or turned, but Seungcheol still has to try. For science.)





	if you were by my side and we stumbled in the dark (I know we'd be alright)

Pilot:  _if you were by my side and we stumbled in the dark (I know we'd be alright)_

\---

He stares into the everlasting darkness, ignoring the sharp winds that bite into his cheeks, and runs. It’s terrifying at first, but after five years, Choi Seungcheol was used to it. 

He doesn’t need his eyes to see the crumbling building and destroyed remnants of a different time. He knows them quite well. Seungcheol actually knows them best in the cover of night so the void is comforting. 

But it’s not a new moon. The clouds shift, and he comes to a complete stop. The light hurts and it takes a moment for his eyes to adjust. 

 _Oh, I’m at the border_ , he realizes, staring at the illuminated ruins in front of him. The large red cross was in stark contrast with the peeling white building. They had just repainted it a week ago—along with the fifty others that created a thirty mile radius area. A safe haven. A home.

Just beyond the border lay No One’s Land. The name wasn’t super original. After all, they were thirteen when they decided what the outside was called.

No one is very sure why  _they_  don’t cross the border. The adults used to know, but they all died on expeditions trying to leave their safe haven. The last adult left four years ago and never came back.

Seungcheol shifts, wincing as a sharp pain shoots up his side. He hadn’t completed healed from their last mission, but he doesn’t have time. Every moment he stays in the safe haven is a moment lost. Even with sense of urgency, Seungcheol checks every bag and double checks every weapon. He didn’t survive to this age on hasty decisions and poor preparation. 

To be honest, Seungcheol has no idea whether he had any time left. It had been at least three days since their last failed mission. Jeonghan could be dead already, and Jisoo— _don’t do this hyung, Jisoo-hyung is dead, changed, turned, whatever the fuck you want to call it, I saw it, he’s_ gone.   

Seungcheol inhales and releases a shaking breath. 

He doesn’t have time for this. Maybe, Seungcheol swallows a sob, maybe Jisoo was dead, turned,  _gone_ —still he needs to see it for himself, but they said they saw well and alive Jeonghan run after him. If nothing else, he needs to save Jeonghan. Seungcheol needs to save one of them and bring both of them home.

He goes through his side bag one more time. Six small vials of hope he managed to swipe from Mingyu’s makeshift lab. Seungcheol pulls one out and holds the vial up against the moonlight, staring at the dark red liquid. Supposedly, these could help with the infection and slow the spread of the virus—or was it bacteria or was it a curse. He doesn’t know, and he’s not sure anyone does anymore. But Mingyu and Myungho took this to suppress the infection so it must kind of work.

_“Well, I mean,” Mingyu frowns at Seungcheol blank expression. He looks to Jihoon as though asking for help, but the other shrugs. “It’s like this thing—virus, bacteria, protozoa, whatever this infection is caused by—it only spreads so much in one person. So we’ve tricked it to thinking that me and Yongpal are one person.”_

_“Yeah, through a blood transfusion that almost killed_ both _of you,” Jihoon snorts. He thinks for a moment. “Actually, it’s probably the bacteria that kept you two from dying actually.”_

_“I thought we agreed that it’s not a bacteria,” Wonwoo sighs. “If it was a bacteria—”_

_“_ _双面人_ _,” Junhui smiles. “They’re like one person with two faces!”_

_Seungcheol blinks. Just when he thought he understood, he was lost once more._

_“Hyung, basically,” Myungho sighs, sitting down next to Seungcheol. He pulls out a small vial of red liquid and hands it to their leader. “This stops the virus, bacteria thing from growing and taking over Mingyu or me.”_

_“Will it work with someone who’s completely turned though?” Seungcheol asks, rolling the vial on his palm._

_“We’ll let you know if we can ever subdue a berserker and force feed them,” Jisoo laughs._

_“Or you can volunteer for science,” Jeonghan smirks. Their science team turns to Seungcheol in rapt attention._

_“We’d take care of you hyung,” Wonwoo says with a strange twinkle in his eyes._

_“Wouldn’t hurt a bit,” Mingyu wheedles, stroking the barrel of a syringe._

_“Unless you wanted it to,” Jihoon smiles. Seungcheol has never feared for his life more, yet he’s never felt more safe._  

Deep in thought and memory, he didn’t even realize that the clouds blocked out the moonlight. After all, the darkness was like a friend— 

“You shouldn’t be daydreaming here.” 

—until it wasn’t. 

Seungcheol went on autopilot. His thoughts hadn’t even caught up when he swung his knife at the intruder. He was too close to the border to risk anything.  _They_  didn’t really move around at night, but that knowledge made them careless. That’s what killed so many of them during their last failed mission, that’s what killed Wonwoo and Junhui and Jisoo— _fuck_ , his blade broke upon impact. Seungcheol breathes in and allows the adrenaline to take over. 

A good scavenger always brings more than one knife. Seungcheol breathes out and prepares his next attack. He cannot let his fear take over. That was the first lesson of survival he’s ever learned when facing  _them_.   

“Easy there!” 

Seungcheol frowns. That voice was familiar, but he doesn’t hesitate, lunging forward for his next offense. If it was who he thought it was, they would never be brought down by an attack like this especially since they had perfected it together. Seungcheol smiles as his knife meets nothing. 

“I said,  _easy there_ ,” the other repeats forcefully. Seungcheol puts his arms up defensively just as a high kick swung for his jaw. He digs his feet into the ground, but the force pushes him back quite a bit. “You should have heard me. I raised my voice, did I not?” 

“Hello to you too,” Seungcheol greets, shaking the soreness out of his arms. In the dark, he couldn’t see the other very well—as the gray clothes were meant to keep them relatively invisible, but he knows that footwork even better than his own. After all, they spent so many years training together. “Kim Jonghyun.” 

“Choi Seungcheol,” Jonghyun nods back, stepping out of the shadow. Their outfits were identical—charcoal long sleeve shirt and pants, and the only difference came from the number of safety pins lined up on their shoulders. Seungcheol had twelve on his right and three on his left—signifying the members of his team and how many years he’s led that team, respectively. Jonghyun, on the other hand, had four on his right and six on his left. 

To be honest, it was the number of pins on their left that mattered—it meant experience and the ability to survive in No One’s land. And, well, if he were to abide by their rules, Seungcheol needed to remove five of those safety pins from his right shoulder and he wasn’t going to. 

“I heard what happened and that’s why I’m here,” Jonghyun admits, kicking a pebble nervously. The two team leaders usually didn’t get into each other’s business. This was new and unexpected, but not entirely unwelcome. “I heard that Jisoo turned and Jeonghan went after him.” 

“That is what I heard too,” Seungcheol responds curtly. 

“I heard that you lost quite a few on your team,” Jonghyun continues quietly. 

“I did,” Seungcheol whispers. He touches the safety pins on his right instinctively, checking to see if they were still there. “I lost five.” 

“I’m sorry,” Jonghyun offers, and Seungcheol accepts it with a quick nod. “So you’re going no matter what, huh?” 

“Yes,” Seungcheol admits, refusing to make eye contact. He’s not sure whether he’s ready to face whatever judgement Jonghyun has. He knows it’s stupid and foolhardy. He knows he’s risking his life for potentially nothing. He  _knows_ — 

“Ah, okay,” Jonghyun hums. Seungcheol looks up just in time to catch the bag thrown at him. “You forgot some stuff.” 

Seungcheol opens the pouch—grade A food rations, hydration pills, a first aid kit and an actual hunting knife. This was what eliminators took with them on long term missions into No One’s Lands. These were precious resources that were hard to come by, and definitely not something a scavenger like Seungcheol could request and receive. 

“It may take you a couple days to find them,” Jonghyun shrugs. “You’ll need a safe source of food and water.” 

“You’re letting me go?”   

“You just said you were going no matter what,” Jonghyun laughs, smothering his chuckles with his hand. “If you’re dead set on going, the least I could do is try to help you come back alive.” 

“Why are you helping me?” Seungcheol asks. He’s not suspicious of the other team leader as much as he was in disbelief. His own teammates, for all their love, harshly put him down, and he understands. They lost so many already. No one was ready to say goodbye to another, and this was also why Seungcheol needed to bring Jeonghan—and Jisoo—back. 

“Jeonghan is special, isn’t he?” Jonghyun smiles. Seungcheol narrows his eyes. This was the smile he didn’t know how to read—was it sincere or was it calculating? Once upon a time, Kim Jonghyun had been a simpler person, but No One’s Land changes people. It turns people with or without the infection. “He’s special to you.” 

Seungcheol allows his tense shoulders to relax. He was going to take those statements at face value. There was no time to deliberate on whether Jonghyun knew about Jeonghan’s secret or not. Seungcheol needed to head out before the sun rises and arrive at the shelter before  _they_  are active. 

“They all are,” Seungcheol answers. “Jeonghan and Jisoo are both special to me.” 

“Could you kill them?” Jonghyun asks. This smile—this smile Seungcheol knew. The sad, defeated smile of an eliminator who’s seen too many deaths, infected allies, and failed missions. “If they turned, do you think you can kill them?” 

Seungcheol opens his mouth and closes it. He doesn’t know. He automatically touches his side pouch with the vials. He doesn’t know. He doesn’t think he could. 

“You should head out,” Jonghyun says after a long moment of silence. “It won’t be night time for too much longer.” 

“You should head back,” Seungcheol responds. “They start roaming around even before the sunrise.” 

“I will,” Jonghyun smiles. “Be safe and come home safe.” 

Seungcheol looks back only once before crossing the border into No One’s Land and swears the next time he returns, it would be with Jeonghan and— _we’ll let you know if we can ever subdue a berserker and force feed them, Jisoo laughs—_ Jisoo. 

“For science,” Seungcheol whispers, chuckling dryly at his own joke.

He starts running again. Seungcheol was going to bring both of them back home. For science.

\--- 

Aside:  _'cause if we lost our minds and we took it way too far (I know we'd be alright)_

\---

Jonghyun sighs as he watches Seungcheol slowly disappear into the ruins. He wonders whether this will be the last time he’ll ever see the other, and something tugs on his chest painfully. 

If nothing else, he and Seungcheol trained together. They split off into different teams quite early on, but they had grown up together. There were not many people Jonghyun could say that he’s known from practically childhood. Many of those people were dead or turned. 

Jonghyun smiles sadly— _if they turned, do you think you can kill them?_  A year ago, Jonghyun would have said yes. He had ended many lives of colleagues who were infected. He almost grew numb to it. After all, being an eliminator also meant taking out dangerous allies, and they had more failed missions than successful ones. 

Now, well, now his answer is the same as Seungcheol’s. Or rather, his answer is more resolute than Seungcheol’s. He cannot and will not. 

“You’re here early,” Jonghyun greets. The shadow shifts quietly, but Jonghyun could hear the labored breathing. It was a characteristic of the infected: loud, heavy breathing and endless fidgeting. Something about the infection changing their metabolism. “The sun’s not out yet and you’re here already.” 

They lose the ability to speak so Jonghyun stands there and listens to the garbled sounds. There is more movement. It’s louder now as the skies slowly brighten. They are most active during the day, and it was hilarious that the infected lived much more like humans used to. 

“You always come at daybreak,” Jonghyun smiles. Once upon a time, Jonghyun only smiled like this: genuine and joyful. “It’s nice and quiet, isn’t it?” 

Pinpoint pupils stare out at him. 

“Minhyun-ah.”

\---

Entering: No One’s Land

Continue or...ERROR: UNABLE TO EXIT. EXIT ABORTED.

\---

_Baby, there's nothing holding me back_

**Author's Note:**

> Sup so, while this seems quite sudden, I've actually been mulling through this idea for years. Like literally since I watched the movie 'I Am Legend' back in 2007. I've ruminated on this idea for 10 years. I've always wanted to do a post-apocalyptic and infected peoples story, and here we are. 
> 
> The actual 95line story isn't meant to be depressing. (I say this as I totally killed like 5/13 SVT members and who knows if Cheol/Han/Soo are actually gonna make it in the end LOL) Its--well, you'll see I guess. I'm still in the midst of figuring out the mechanics, so if there are inconsistencies w/ this pilot chapter and future ones...well, head up seven up :)
> 
> I know this is a little different than the stuff I've written so far and eh, it's not going to be everyone's cup of tea. I do have a massive fic dump that's going to happen late August ^^ So be ready for updates (lost prince) and new fics (wonhao, a lot of gyuhao, more cheolhao and maybe a junhao)!
> 
> Thanks for reading and I hope everyone's been well!! <3 I have my licensing exams in like a week so I'll be pretty MIA from now until the end of my testing period. But late August! Late August!! <3


End file.
